Yes, that was our junior U.S. senator on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric last night giving the Pentagon, specifically the Air Force, a well-earned hard time. So much for his critics who assured us no one would pay any heed to him when he arrived in the United States Senate:
“ The idea that over $200 million in spare parts that has not yet come into the Air Force is already marked for disposal!” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “They’re planning to get rid of it and it hasn’t even come in!”
Sanders wants Congress to cut Air Force funding if it doesn't get a serious grip on its inventory problem.
It costs up to $30 million dollars a year just to store the stuff they don't need.
Nobody at the Air Force would agree to an interview, but told us they're "taking steps" to fix the problems and to "serve the best interest of the American public."
“We have almost $19 billion in absolute waste in spare parts in the Air Force,” Sanders said.
They are taxpayer dollars squandered in the wild blue yonder.
Watch him yourself here.
Then, this afternoon, I bumped into these four gents at the Green Door Studio around the corner off Pine Street. Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?
Four Iraq War veterans...from l-to-r: Eli Wright, served as an army combat medic with the Ist Infantry Division; Jon Michael Turner, 8th Marines; Liam Madden, 31st Marine Expeditionary Force; Matt Howard, two tours in Iraq with the Marines. Wright's the only one still on active duty over at Ft. Drum.
What are they doing?
They're cutting up their old uniforms to make paper and other works of art.
Everybody's got to do something, right?
"I am shredding these uniforms because they are symbols of a betrayal," said Madden, "and I think it’s pretty liberating."
Feels good?
"Feels real good," said he.
Making paper out of old soldier uniforms?
Check it out. I missed the Seven Days story last April, too.
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